 Mr. Clemens; Mr. TwainMark Twain, arguably the greatest of all American humorists, wrote novels, travel logs, short stories, polemical pieces, and rants. He shared his sentiments: “Clothes make the man; naked people have little or no influence in society”; “Familiarity breeds contempt . . . and children”; and “It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.” And he reminded us that all schools “have two great functions: to confer, and to conceal, valuable knowledge.”
He has been called America’s Homer, our Cervantes, our Tolstoy. In the midst of one of his darker periods, he asked himself whether he considered himself an American. “No,” he responded, “I am the American.” He brings to question what it means to be American.
He has been called our Rabelais, our Shakespeare. Ernest Hemingway maintained that all modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. President Franklin D. Roosevelt got the phrase New Deal from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Class discussions will focus on how Twain's work illuminates and complicates his society's responses to such issues as race, technology, heredity versus environment, religion, and education.
At the very least he was a chronicler of that pivotal period between an old and new America, when the frontier was disappearing and a less rural America began to emerge. In many ways he embodies that very American struggle between our conflicting personalities—the materialist and the idealist.
We will read from his big works and his small; we will read from his major works and his lesser.
EVALUATION:
You are required to stay current with the reading. On the first class meeting of the week you will submit a one-page response to something in the material being covered. Topics for these “finely crafted pages” come from inside YOU; they will, however, not be summaries. There will be two longer papers in place of some of the weekly writing assignments. Students are expected to contribute regularly and intelligently to class discussion.
Those of you who have opted for the “A.P.” designation will read some extra stories and will submit an additional short essay each class cycle, submitted on each Day 4 (That means you will have the occasional week when two papers are due the same day.). You will also talk to the class about the extra reading, perhaps in concert with another student. All these A.P. readings will be assigned by me as I see fit.
All students will submit a final writing project—“Letters from the Earth, High School”—modeled after the Twain piece of similar title. (Specifics to follow.)
TEXTS: PUDD’NHEAD WILSON
THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER
A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR’S COURT
LETTERS FROM THE EARTH
Other readings.
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